Shoulder pad



Sept. 8, 1959 w, WERNER 2,902,695

SHOULDER PAD Filed Jan. 20, 1958 United Stats Patent 2,902,695 sHoULDER PAD Wilfred B. Werner, Newton, Mass; Thelma S. Werner,

executrix of the estate of said Wilfred B. Werner, deceased, assignor to H. Werner Sons Co., Boston, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application January 20, 1958, Serial No. 709,988

- 1 Claim. (Cl. 2-268) The present invention relates to an improved shoulder pad suitable for use in the manufacture of garments.

It is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved shoulder pad which comprises a plurality of thin plies of the plastic polyurethea shaped and heldtogether in such a manner as to form a pad which will mold itself naturally to the shape of the wearer without bunching or distortion, and which has the further advantage that it may be subjected to dry cleaning or washing any number of times without any loss of its resiliency or I shape or deterioration of any sort.

With this and other objects in view as may hereinafter appear, the features of the invention and advantages to be obtained thereby should be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following description taken in connection With the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is an exploded view of a shoulder pad constructed in accordance with the present invention, the stitching having been removed;

Fig. 2 is an end view looking at the straight edge of the pad showing the several plies and the two cover pieces of the pad in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a pad in the position in which it is stitched, but sectioned adjacent the straight edge;

Fig. 4 is a somewhat enlarged view looking downwardly at the shoulder pad shown in Fig. 3 showing the set back positions of the several plies along the straight shoulder edge; and

Fig. 5 is a section taken on a line 55 of Fig. 4.

In the manufacture of shoulder pads for use in clothing including coats, dresses and like garments having built up or shaped shoulders, difficulties have been encountered in providing a shoulder pad which will meet the very demanding specifications of the clothing trade for this article. The conventional shoulder pad, built of layers of cotton or wool batting, tends to lose its resiliency under the impact of repeated washings and continued wear, and is in addition difficult to handle, having a tendency to bunch under the shoulder when bent so that it will conform to the shoulder contours of the particular garment.

In carrying out the present invention, a material has been found in the plastic polyurethea which is entirely satisfactory from the standpoint of elasticity,'flexibility, stability, and impervousness to the dry cleansing and washing operation to which clothing may be subjected. Polyurethea is, moreover, a sponge-like cellular plastic which is perfectly elastic so that when stressed or compressed in any direction it will always when released, resume its original shape.

While the plastic polyurethea has the advantages above enumerated for use in shoulder pads considerable difficulty has been experienced in producing a pad from this material which the clothing trade will accept as satisfactory. Such a pad, for example, cut to form a single piece shoulder pad, tapered and curved to conform genice erally to the contour of the average shoulder, has been found wanting in that the curved pad so produced tends very strongly to hold the shape to which it is cut and will not adapt itself to the shoulder contours of the individual wearer.

A further feature of the invention therefore consists in the construction of the pad from a plurality of thin layers of the plastic polyurethea which are stitched together with loose stitching while the assembled layers are held in a bent position, as for example, on the round nose work support of .a suitably equipped sewing machine. The thin plies of the plastic polyurethea tend to adapt themselves most readily to the shoulder contours of the wearer when held permanently in the curved position illustrated in Fig. 2.

The pads for the right andleft shoulders are normally made up in a single roughly pie-shaped unit, each ply and each cover piece being assembled in such position that when .the unit is cut across the middle separate right and left shoulder pad assemblies are provided.

Further in accordance with the present invention the plies forming the left and right shoulder pads are separately cut and are then assembled in offset position, in which, using the bottom cover piece as a base, the plies are added in successively set back positions from the straight edge so that a sloping shoulder edge is provided which has the very important advantage that it permits the sleeve of the coat in which the shoulder pad is placed to hang over clear and clean without any bumps at the edge.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, Fig. 1 discloses a shoulder pad in accordance with the invention built up of three plies 10, 12 and 14 of the plastic polyurethea referred to, the smallest pad 14 being in the middle and two progressively larger pads 12 and 14 being placed one at each side thereof. Each ply is trimmed to a roughly half-moon shape with a straight edge and a curved edge. The plies are lined up one on top of the other but in an offset position in which, using the bottom cover piece as a base, the plies are added in successively set back positions of an eighth of an inch more or less so that a sloping shoulder edge is provided. The pad is provided with a top cover piece 16 of fabric and a bottom cover piece 18 of cotton batting. These plies are assembled with their straight or practically straight edges aligned in parallel relation providing a pad which is thick along the substantially straight shoulder edge and which tapers to a minimum thickness at its outer curved edge. It will be understood that the shoulder pad may be made up of any desired number of plies to produce a pad of the desired thickness, and the thickness or gage of the individual plies may be controlled in order to secure the desired degree of flexibility and moldability of the assembled pad. While considerable latitude is permissible in the choice of gage or thickness of the individual plies, a thickness of between a sixty-fourth and an eighth of an inch is preferred. Cover pieces of any suitable material may be used, or if so desired, the cover pieces may be omitted. In the illustrated form of the invention a top cover piece 16 of cotton fabric and a bottom cover piece 18 of cotton batting are employed.

The pad, assembled as shown, is then stitched while held in a curved position as shown in Fig. 3, a loose stitch being used which allows the several plies more readily to accommodate themselves to the shoulder contours of the particular wearer. The advantage of a loose or basting stitch such as that indicated at 20 in Figs. 3 and 4 is that the individual plies of the plastic polyurethea are thus permitted to slide with relation to one another and to bend more freely so that the pad may conform more readily to the shoulder contours of the particular wearer. The basting stitch thus has a staying v eflect to maintain the pad including the individual plies thereof in the generally curved position in which it is stitched together in Fig. 3.

Further advantages of the present construction consist in the fact that the plies may be readily cut to a precisely uniform thickness so that all pads made up of the same number of plies will be of exactly the same thickness. The use of thin plies cut to different sizes provides a very accurately and finely drawn out taper. The fact that the individual plies are permitted, by the use of a loose or basting stitch to slide with relation to one another, efiectively prevents any possibility of bunching of the pad under the shoulder.

Another advantage of the present construction consists in the fact that the plies can readily be assembled with the straight edges thereof in successively set back positions, and when so assembled provide a novel and improved pad having a sloping shoulder edge which adds substantially to the appearance and fit of the garment in which the shoulder pad is placed.

The invention having been described what is claimed is:

A shoulder pad which comprises a plurality of plies including a pair of inner and outer covering plies and a series of intermediate plies of the plastic polyurethea, each ply having a uniform thickness in the order of a sixty-fourth to an eighth of an inch and having a roughly triangular shape with a straight base edge and curved side edges, said plies being of diiferent extents and all of said plies being superimposed with said straight edges in alignment in a stressed position curved about an axis roughly perpendicular to said aligned straight edges to provide a pad tapered in thickness from a maximum along the straight edge to a minimum at said curved side edges, each of said plies being normally flat in an unstressed condition, and stitching means passing through said superimposed plies of said pad for maintaining said curved position of said pad.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 615,500 Schweichler Dec 6,1898 873,999 Goldman Dec. 17, 190'] FOREIGN, PATENTS r 613,599 Great Britain Nov. 30, 1948 

